Judge Christopher J. Burke
Limits & Logistics
Document Limits
Courtesy Copies
Filings (Brief, Exhibits, Declarations, Affidavits, Appendices)
Required
Filings (Letter Brief)
Required
Filings (Voir Dire, Preliminary Jury Instructions, Final Jury Instructions, Special Verdict Forms)
Required
Filings (Motion, Brief, Appendix)
Required
Filings (Brief, Letter Brief, Appendix, Exhibit, Declaration, Affidavit, Tutorial)
Required
Filings (All filings)
Required
Detailed Drafting Rules
Opposition letters for motions to amend must be filed within 7 days and limited to 5 single-spaced pages.
Within seven (7) days after the filing of a motion in compliance with this Order, any party opposing such a motion shall file a responsive letter, not to exceed five (5) single-spaced pages.
Reply letters for motions to amend must be filed within 3 days and limited to 2 single-spaced pages.
Within three (3) days thereafter, the moving party may file a reply letter, not to exceed two (2) single-spaced pages, and, by this same date, the parties may file a letter requesting a teleconference to address the motion to amend.
Reply letters for motions to strike must be filed within 3 days and limited to 2 single-spaced pages.
Within three (3) days thereafter, the moving party may file a reply letter, not to exceed two (2) single-spaced pages, and, by this same date, the parties may file a letter requesting a teleconference to address the motion to strike.
Motions to amend must be accompanied by a 3-page single-spaced letter and proposed amended pleading with blackline comparison.
Any motion to amend a pleading shall NOT be accompanied by an opening brief but shall, instead, be accompanied by a letter, not to exceed three (3) single-spaced pages, describing the basis for the requested relief, and shall attach the proposed amended pleading as well as a "blackline" comparison to the prior pleading.
Document Type
Motion To Amend
Motions to strike must be accompanied by a 3-page single-spaced letter and the document to be stricken.
Any motion to strike any pleading or other document or testimony shall NOT be accompanied by an opening brief but shall, instead, be accompanied by a letter, not to exceed three (3) single-spaced pages, describing the basis for the requested relief, and shall attach the document to be stricken.
Document Type
Motion To Strike
Motions to stay must be accompanied by a letter (max 3 single-spaced pages) instead of an opening brief.
Any motion to stay shall NOT be accompanied by an opening brief but shall, instead, be accompanied by a letter, not to exceed three (3) single-spaced pages, describing the basis for the requested relief.
Document Type
Motion To Stay
Moving party may file reply letter (max 2 single-spaced pages) within 3 days, and parties may request teleconference.
Within three (3) days thereafter, the moving party may file a reply letter, not to exceed two (2) single-spaced pages, and, by this same date, the parties may file a letter requesting a teleconference to address the motion to stay.
Parties may file comments on opposing tutorial (max 5 pages) within 7 days after Joint Claim Construction Brief.
Each party may comment, in writing (in no more than 5 pages) on the opposing party’s tutorial. Any such comment shall be filed no later than seven days after the Joint Claim Construction Brief is due.
Plaintiff must serve (not file) opening brief on claim construction (max 20 pages) by specified date.
Plaintiff shall serve, but not file, its opening brief, not to exceed 20 pages, on claim construction on or before ____________, 202_.
Defendant must serve (not file) answering brief on claim construction (max 30 pages) by specified date.
Defendant shall serve, but not file, its answering claim construction brief, not to exceed 30 pages, on or before ____________, 202_.
Plaintiff must serve (not file) reply brief on claim construction (max 20 pages) by specified date.
Plaintiff shall serve, but not file, its reply brief, not to exceed 20 pages, on or before ____________, 202_.
Defendant must serve (not file) sur-reply brief on claim construction (max 10 pages) by specified date.
Defendant shall serve, but not file, its sur-reply brief, not to exceed 10 pages, on or before ____________, 202_.
Early case dispositive motions require leave with 4-page letter brief; responsive briefs limited to 4 pages within 7 days; no reply briefs.
No early motions without leave. No case dispositive motion under Rule 56 may be filed more than ten (10) days before the above date without leave of the Court. A party seeking leave to file a case dispositive motion prior to ten (10) days before the deadline set forth above shall do so by filing a motion and an accompanying letter brief with the Court of no more than four (4) single-spaced pages, explaining the reasons why an earlier-filed motion should be permitted. If any party wishes to contest this request, it may do so by filing a responsive letter brief of no more than four (4) single-spaced pages, within seven (7) days from the date the requesting party filed its brief. No reply briefs shall be filed.
Pre-Motion Conference
A pre-motion conference is mandatory before filing. You must submit a letter first.
Letter Requirements
Summary judgment motions require concise statement (max 6 pages) of material facts with record citations.
judgment shall be accompanied by a separate concise statement, not to exceed six pages, which details each material fact that the moving party contends is essential for the Court’s resolution of the summary judgment motion (not the entire case) and as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue to be tried. Each fact shall be set forth in a separate numbered paragraph and shall be supported by specific citation(s) to the record.
Opposition to summary judgment requires response to concise statement (max 6 pages) with paragraph-by-paragraph admissions/disputes.
Any party opposing the motion shall include with its opposing papers a response to the moving party’s concise statement, not to exceed six pages, which admits or disputes the facts set forth in the moving party’s concise statement on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. To the extent a fact is disputed, the basis of the dispute shall be supported by specific citation(s) to the record. Failure to respond to a fact presented in the moving party’s concise statement of facts shall indicate that fact is not in dispute for purposes of summary judgment.
Opposition may include additional concise statement (max 4 pages) of disputed material facts.
The party opposing the motion may also include with its opposing papers a separate concise statement, not to exceed four pages, which sets forth material facts as to which the opposing party contends there is a genuine issue to be tried. Each fact asserted by the opposing party shall also be set forth in a separate numbered paragraph and shall be supported by specific citation(s) to the record.
Reply to summary judgment requires response to opposition concise statement (max 4 pages).
The moving party shall include with its reply papers a response to the opposing party’s concise statement of facts, not to exceed four pages, on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis.
Combined page limits: 40 pages per side for case dispositive motions, increased to 50/50/25 with Daubert motions.
Page limits combined with Daubert motion page limits. Each party is permitted to file as many case dispositive motions as desired; provided, however, that each SIDE will be limited to a combined total of 40 pages for all opening briefs, a combined total of 40 the number of case dispositive motions that are filed. In the event that a party files, in addition to a case dispositive motion, a Daubert motion to exclude or preclude all or any portion of an expert’s testimony, the total amount of pages permitted for all case dispositive and Daubert motions shall be increased to 50 pages for all opening briefs, 50 pages for all answering briefs, and 25 pages for all reply briefs for each SIDE.
Total briefing limit: 250 pages combined for all case dispositive and Daubert motions across related cases.
The parties must work together to ensure that the Court receives no more than a total of 250 pages (i.e., 50 + 50 + 25 regarding one side’s motions, and 50 + 50 + 25 regarding the other side’s motions) of briefing on all case dispositive motions and Daubert motions that are covered by this scheduling order and any other scheduling order entered in any related case that is proceeding on a consolidated or coordinated pretrial schedule.
Each side limited to 3 in limine requests with specific page limits for arguments
Each SIDE shall be limited to three (3) in limine requests, unless otherwise permitted by the Court. The in limine request and any response shall contain the authorities relied upon; each in limine request may be supported by a maximum of three (3) single-spaced pages of argument and may be opposed by a maximum of three (3) single-spaced pages of argument, and the party making the in limine request may add a maximum of one (1) additional single-spaced page in reply in support of its request. If more than one party is supporting or opposing an in limine request, such support or opposition shall be combined in a single three (3)-page single-spaced submission (and, if the moving party, a single one (1)-page single-spaced reply), unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
Post-trial briefs limited to 20 pages (opening/answering) and 10 pages (reply) per side.
Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, all SIDES are limited to a maximum of 20 pages of opening briefs, 20 pages of answering briefs, and 10 pages of reply briefs relating to any post-trial motions filed by that side, no matter how many such motions are filed.
In limine requests/responses limited to 3 pages each, with 1 page allowed for reply.
The in limine request and any response shall contain the authorities relied upon; each in limine request may be supported by a maximum of three (3) pages of argument and may be opposed by a maximum of three (3) pages of argument, and the side making the in limine request may add a maximum of one (1) additional page in reply in support of its request.
Proposed Findings of Fact limited to maximum pages (number unspecified).
Along with their initial briefs, each party shall provide proposed Findings of Fact, separately stated in numbered paragraphs, constituting a detailed listing of the relevant material facts the party believes it has proven, in a simple narrative form, along with citations to the record. The proposed Findings of Fact shall be limited to a maximum of_ pages.
Parties must highlight important portions of exhibits in yellow.
With regard to other types of exhibits the parties attach to their letter briefs, the parties should highlight in yellow those portions of the exhibits that are particularly important and that they want the Court to focus on.
Large exhibits (>20 pages) must be trimmed to relevant portions only.
If a party is attaching an exhibit to its letter brief, and the exhibit is large (i.e., more than 20 pages), the party should simply include the cover page/first page of the exhibit and then only those other portions of the exhibit that are relevant to the discovery dispute.
Document Type